By Valerie Mossman-Celestin, West Michigan Conference Executive Assistant and Office Manager
West Michigan Conference Executive Assistant and Office Manager Valerie Mossman-Celestin has some unique insights into Haiti. She has been going there since 1998, she is the U.S.-based executive director for Haitian Artisans for Peace International and she is married to a Haitian man, who had relatives in the country at the time of the earthquake.
Observations of American interaction with Haitian
Americans don’t always ask questions but come across as having the answers.
They see things that make no sense and assume the solutions are simple, when in fact they are complex.
For example, we might say, “Preventing cholera should be easy. Wash your hands and drink clean water.”; simple in the American context, but not so in Haiti.
How many times a day will you wash your hands long enough to sing the alphabet when you have to walk long distances and haul the water in five-gallon jugs that supply all your water needs?
Do you have a filter for clean water? How do you boil water without money for charcoal or bleach?
The poor of Haiti are survivors
How can you think about future generations when your children are at home crying for dinner?
Also, it is tough to really know where someone stands on an issue, especially political. They want to be on the winning side because they fear for repercussions.
For example, my friend was on President Aristide’s team after his first election.
He had a team of people working with him to assess electrical needs for communities.
The day the coup happened, his team removed their Aristide t-shirts, put on the colors of the new guy, and tried to chase down my friend to hurt him to prove their loyalty to the new person in power because they were afraid of being killed or losing their jobs if it was perceived they supported Aristide.
Haiti is a collective vs. individual society.
The earthquake did not have to kill “my” mother for me to grieve and develop symptoms of depression.
It happened to “all of us.”
The poor are daily “looking for life.”
They understand the misery and what it is like to heap more misery on top of what already exists. This solidarity can lead to violence or vigilante justice.
But it can also work for good; if everyone in the community knows of a family that has absolutely nothing to eat, the community members will drop off food from their own meager servings.
Sharing is absolutely expected, to the point of being part of one’s personal security system.
If you are perceived as “selfish”, you can endanger yourself and your family. Larger communes are divided into very small community zones and people tend to be loyal to their zone. They try to get as many people from their zone into jobs or other distributions.
These folks are then the funnels that return cash and goods back to their zone families. This is part of the reason the earthquake was so damaging to Haiti. Rural zones emigrate people into Port au Prince, the Dominican Republic, US, Canada and France. These people are typically the ones with money that travels back down the pipeline to the rural family that is living off of an agricultural system that can be wiped out in one rainy or dry season.
You think we are ‘connectional?’ This is a connectional system.
West Michigan Conference Executive Assistant and Office Manager Valerie Mossman-Celestin has some unique insights into Haiti. She has been going there since 1998, she is the U.S.-based executive director for Haitian Artisans for Peace International and she is married to a Haitian man, who had relatives in the country at the time of the earthquake.Observations of American interaction with Haitian
Americans don’t always ask questions but come across as having the answers.
They see things that make no sense and assume the solutions are simple, when in fact they are complex.
For example, we might say, “Preventing cholera should be easy. Wash your hands and drink clean water.”; simple in the American context, but not so in Haiti.
How many times a day will you wash your hands long enough to sing the alphabet when you have to walk long distances and haul the water in five-gallon jugs that supply all your water needs?
Do you have a filter for clean water? How do you boil water without money for charcoal or bleach?
The poor of Haiti are survivors
How can you think about future generations when your children are at home crying for dinner?
Also, it is tough to really know where someone stands on an issue, especially political. They want to be on the winning side because they fear for repercussions.
For example, my friend was on President Aristide’s team after his first election.
He had a team of people working with him to assess electrical needs for communities.
The day the coup happened, his team removed their Aristide t-shirts, put on the colors of the new guy, and tried to chase down my friend to hurt him to prove their loyalty to the new person in power because they were afraid of being killed or losing their jobs if it was perceived they supported Aristide.
Haiti is a collective vs. individual society.
The earthquake did not have to kill “my” mother for me to grieve and develop symptoms of depression.
It happened to “all of us.”
The poor are daily “looking for life.”
They understand the misery and what it is like to heap more misery on top of what already exists. This solidarity can lead to violence or vigilante justice.
But it can also work for good; if everyone in the community knows of a family that has absolutely nothing to eat, the community members will drop off food from their own meager servings.
Sharing is absolutely expected, to the point of being part of one’s personal security system.
If you are perceived as “selfish”, you can endanger yourself and your family. Larger communes are divided into very small community zones and people tend to be loyal to their zone. They try to get as many people from their zone into jobs or other distributions.
These folks are then the funnels that return cash and goods back to their zone families. This is part of the reason the earthquake was so damaging to Haiti. Rural zones emigrate people into Port au Prince, the Dominican Republic, US, Canada and France. These people are typically the ones with money that travels back down the pipeline to the rural family that is living off of an agricultural system that can be wiped out in one rainy or dry season.
You think we are ‘connectional?’ This is a connectional system.
